| James A. Pike |
Article Index for James A |
Website Links For James |
Information AboutJames A. Pike |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT JAMES PIKE | |
| 1913 births | |
| pike, james | |
| 1969 deaths | |
| bishops of the episcopal church in the united states of america | |
James Albert Pike ( February 14 , 1913 - September 1969) was an American Episcopal Bishop , prolific writer, and one of the first mainline religious figures to appear regularly on television. His outspoken views on many theological and social issues made him one of most controversial public figures of his time. He was an early proponent of Ordination Of Women , racial Desegregation , and the acceptance of LBGT people within mainline churches. He was the fifth Bishop of California . Late in his life he explored Psychic experimentation in an effort to contact his recently deceased son. EARLY LIFE Pike was born in Oklahoma City on February 14, 1913. His father died when he was two, and his mother married California attorney Claude McFadden. The young Pike was a Roman Catholic and considered the priesthood, but while attending the University Of Santa Clara , he came to consider himself an agnostic. Pike earned a doctorate from Yale Law School , and married Jane Alvies. He served as an attorney in Washington D.C. for the Securities and Exchange Commission during Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal era, and also taught law at George Washington University . After his first marriage ended in divorce (later to be annulled), Pike married Esther Yanovsky. In World War II, he served with naval intelligence. CONVERSION AND EARLY CHURCH LIFE At the war's end, Pike and his wife joined the Episcopal Church and Pike entered first the backed up Pike, McCarthy and his movement began to lose their influence. 2 It was also in New York where he reached a large audience with liberal sermons and weekly television programs. Common topics included birth control, abortion laws, racism, capital punishment, apartheid, antisemitism, and farm worker exploitation.3 ELECTION AS BISHOP After his election as Bishop Coadjutor in 1958 and his ascension to the See a few months later (following the death of his predecessor, Karl Morgan Block), he served until his abdication/resignation in 1966. At that point, he began to work for the Center For The Study Of Democratic Institutions , a private-sector Think Tank . at a press conference after the march to Selma, Alabama .]] His episcopate was marked by both professional and personal controversy. While at Grace Cathedral he was involved with, promoting a Living Wage for workers in San Francisco, the acceptance of LBGT people in the church, and civil rights. He also recognized a Methodist minister as having dual ordination and freedom to serve in the diocese. Later he ordained a woman as a first-order deacon, now known as a "transitional deacon", usually the first step in the process towards ordination in the priesthood in the Episcopal church. The ordination was not approved until after Pike's death.4 Among his notable accomplishments, Pike met with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during his march to Selma, Alabama . His theology was profoundly challenging to the Church, as Pike wrote questioning a number of widely regarded theological stances, including the virginity of Mary, The Mother Of Jesus , and the doctrine of the Trinity . He famously called for “fewer beliefs, more belief.”5 Heresy procedures were begun in 1962, '64, '65, and '66, each growing in intensity, but in the end the church decided it was not in the denomination's best interest to pursue an actual heresy trial. 6 He was ultimately Censured by his brother bishops in 1966 for this and resigned his position shortly thereafter. In his personal life, Pike was a chain-smoker, an alcoholic, craved attention, and was likely addicted in some way to romance and relationships.7 His charismatic personality drew many people to him, including his secretary, with whom he developed a romantic relationship that cost him his marriage to his second wife in 1969. THE OTHER SIDE In 1966, Pike's son Jim took his life in a New York city hotel room following a period of experimentation with drugs. Shortly after his son's death Pike began to experience , who served at the time as a Disciples of Christ minister. Pike detailed these experiences in his book '' The Other Side ''. DEATH In 1969, following an obsession with Gnostic spirituality stemming from attempts to contact his dead son, Pike and his new wife drove into the Israeli desert. They were unprepared for the journey, and when their car broke down and became stuck, they separated in order to search for help. Accounts differ and an exact determination is impossible, though it is likely that Pike either fell into a Wadi / Oasis /creek bed to his death or else climbed in and subsequently died of exposure and thirst sometime between September 2nd and 9th. His body was recovered {Link without Title} and buried (following his wishes and those of his family) in the Protestant cemetery in Jaffa, Israel. 9 IN POPULAR CULTURE James Pike was a loose inspiration for the character Timothy Archer in Philip K. Dick 's book, '' The Transmigration Of Timothy Archer ''. Pike and Philip K.Dick were friends and Pike officiated at Dick's wedding to Nancy Hackett in 1966. 10 Joan Didion wrote about Pike and the building of the Grace Cathedral in her collection of essays, '' The White Album '', The Noonday Press/Farrar, Straus and Giroux, NY, 1979. MAJOR WORKS
BIOGRAPHIES SEE ALSO REFERENCES |
|
|